Half Past Midnight
by MLP Tales Nut
Summary: The ponies get more than they bargained for when they decide to take a midnight walk in the woods. *MLP Tales*
1. Chapter 1

Melody was laying on her bed, locked in her room, listening to her newest Cleavland Bays CD. She held the cover up to her face, drooling over the perfect picture of Chain Link emblished on it. "Melody... Melody... MELODY!" her mother cried from downstairs. "What, Mom?" Melody answered angrily. Why was her mother always spoiling her 'alone time'?

"Turn that music down, Mel! The twins are trying to sleep!"

"Fine." snorted Melody as she lowered the music's volume. Her phone suddenly started ringing, and she ran to pick it up.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hey Mel. It's Patch."

"Oh, hi Patch! What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just curious if you wanted to join the other girls and I on a walk this evening."

"Sure, I'd love to!"

"Great. Meet us at Pinto cave by 7 o' clock."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Melody rushed down the stairs to ask her parents about the walk. Both her mother and father accepted. "Just remember, Melody," said her mom, "I ave to work the night shift at the hospital. Try to be back before 10 o' clock." "Sure thing, Mom!" yelled Melody as she bolted out the door and towards Pinto Cave.

Pinto Cave's large mouth loomed in front of Melody. Patch, Clover, Brighteyes, Sweetheart, Starlight, and Bon Bon were talking in front of some bushes. Melody ran up to them. "Hi, Melody!" they all said in unicine. Patch looked to the dark forest next to Pinto Cave. "Well, girls, are you ready for some adventure?" she said happily. "YEAH!" screamed the rest, except Clover. "Uhh... P...p... Patch?" she stammered. "are you, uhh... sure this is s...s...safe?" "Sure." she answered. "Stop being such a baby pony and come on!" Patch linked one arm around Clover's and started to drag her along. "Not so fast!" said a voice from a nearby bush. The girls gasped as two figures leaped out of the bush. One of them was adorned with a mohawk.


	2. Chapter 2

Sweetheart put her hooves on her hips and sighed. "Teddy, Ace, get over here, now!" The pranksters' heads sunk low to the ground as they trotted up to the group. "Ugh, boys." sighed Bon Bon. "We heard you were going on a walk, so we wanted to maybe... uhhh... have a little fun." said Ace. "Do ya mind if we come along too?" asked Teddy. "Alright." answered Patch grudgingly. The two boy ponies trotted up to their girlfriends and the group started on the dusty trail through the woods.

A full moon started to appear in the night sky speckled with stars. Clover looked up with a scared look on her face. "It s...s...sure is d...d...dark." she stammered quietly. "Oh, just shut up, Clover!" Patch snarled. Clover's teeth started to chatter, but she kept her mouth shut. Starlight screamed as a bat soared above her head. Ace put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. "Maybe we should turn back." Sweetheart said in a worried tone. "Don't worry, Sweets," Teddy answered as he nuzzled her sweetly, "if anything happens, I'll protect you."

"Sweetheart's right!" said Melody. "It's getting pretty creepy out here." "Oh, nonsense!" yelled Patch. "We're perfectly fine! If we do get lost, we can always use the good ol' North Star." Nobody said anything for a while, until Bon Bon complained of hunger, and munched on one of the many chocolate bars she had brought along in her crammed sack.

Out of nowhere, a loud rumbling noise was heard. A large streak of lightning danced across the night sky, casting an eerie light upon the forest. The group screamed in terror as rain and hail streamed from the dark cloud looming above. One soon blocked out the moon, making it almost pitch-black. Everyone was running everywhere, bumping into trees and brambled bushes. Starlight and Sweetheart rushed to find their boyfriends in the pouring rain and hail.

Almost as quick as it had started, the storm stopped and moonlight was seen once again. The group sighed with relief. "Heyyyyy! Over here!" a mysterious voice called. Everyone turned around to look at the trail behind them. Out of the shadows galloped Lancer, adorned with his adventure and survival gear. "LANCER!" everyone called as they ran up to their friend. "I knew he'd come! I knew it!" Teddy cheered. "You're really becoming one of us guys!" "Yeah," answered Lancer, "but I still don't believe in playing childish pranks on harmless ponies." Teddy crossed his arms and, with an angry frown on his face, walked away.

Lancer reached into his backpack and pulled out a tattered, rolled-up sheet of paper. "Here's a map of the woods." he said, unrolling it. "We're here, by the gorge." He pointed at a large gorge towards the center of the map. "Now if we just go..." Lancer said, and as her tried to turn the map, a large gust of wind blew by, sending the map straight out of Lancer's hooves. "NOOO!" everyone yelled.


	3. Chapter 3

"Now we're doomed." Clover sighed quietly. "Don't worry!" Lancer yelled. "It mustn't have blown too far away!" "Give it up, Lancer." said Patch. "It's gone."

"What are we to do now?" asked Sweetheart, nudging Teddy in a worried manner. "This is really truly bad!" "At least we know our relative location." said Ace, trying to cheer up the group. "Yeah!" said Lancer in a more excited tone. "Let's go to the gorge. It's probably about a quarter mile north." He trotted up the a leading position and led the group northward.

About ten minutes later, the ponies arrived at a large gorge in the middle of the woods. Sweetheart slowly trotted to the edge of the foggy gorge, with jagged rocks at the bottom, which was hardly visible. "It sure looks deep..." she said as she looked into the stone death trap. A small pepple under her hoof rolled and soon she was tumbling down a rocky slope, sliding further and further to the jagged bottom, until she grabbed onto a weak branch jutting out. "HELP!" she cried.

"We have to help her!" cried Lancer as he pulled out his looped rope. "Let me do it!" yelled Teddy. "I am her boyfriend, after all." "If you say so..." said Lancer as he handed the rope to Teddy. "SWEETHEART! GRAB THIS!" Teddy yelled to Sweetheart as he tossed the rope down to her. The branch was quickly cracking and weakening. She stopped grabbing the branch with one hoof and tried to reach for the rope loop, and gripped it just as the branch snapped and tumbled down into the gloom and doom below.

With all of his might, Teddy pulled the love of his life up onto the safety of the ground. "Teddy, you saved me!" Sweetheart cried as she threw her arms around Teddy. "Ah, Sweets." he said quietly. "What's a guy to do when his girl's in trouble?" He gave her a quick smooch on her forehead. "Gee, I guess he really does have a good side after all. " said Patch as she shrugged. "Enough love, let's get going!" yelled Starlight. "Starlight's right." said Melody. "We really need to find our way out of here before something finds us!" With that, the ponies slowly and carefully made their way around the gorge and headed north.


	4. Chapter 4

Note... this chapter does not focus on the group in the woods.

Melody's mother gazed at the clock slowly ticking on the wall. It read 11:30 at night. She was able to get out early from her night shift at the hospital, since there were enough nurses at work. "Oh, Melody, where are you!?" she cried in distress. She galloped up to her phone and dialed 911.

"_Hello, this is 911, what's you're situation?"_

"MY DAUGHTER IS MISSING!"

"_Where did you last see your daughter, ma'am?"_

"She left to meet her friends at Pinto cave at 6:45 tonight. They were going for a walk in the Settler's Wood."

"_We'll send a search party out, ma'am. May I ask what your daughter's name is?"_

"Melody! Blue hair, pink body! Microphone!

"_Police officers are one their way."_

_BEEP_

Clover's mother was also as worrysome as usual. Meadowlark and Cheval were visiting, so they were making an attempt to comfort her. "Where's my Clover? WHERE'S MY CLOVER!" her mom cried with tears streaming from her eyes. "Calm down, mother!" Meadowlark said in her comforting voice as she hugged her mother. "Clover is probably fine!" "That's what you _think!" _She yelled as she pried herself out of Meadowlark's arms. "Right now, she could be being gulped down by a giant... wolverine... or something!" More tears streamed to the ground. "Vhere iz zat little Clo-vehr?" Cheval asked himself.

All of the ponies' parents were extremely worried for their sons and daughters. By now, the Ponyland police was searching the woods for the lost group. The K9 team had joined them with large Labs and German Shepherds pulling at their leads and constantly sniffing the ground. They were using one of Clover's ballerina slippers to track them down. Sarge, the chief of police, was leading his team with a flashlight in hand. It was already midnight, and they weren't sure if they could recover the ponies in time. "Move, move, MOVE!" he yelled to his team. The parents of the ponies were with the search party, trying to help as best as they could without getting in the way. Calls of "Melody!", "Bon Bon!", "Clover!", "Sweetheart!", "Brighteyes!", "Starlight!", and "Patch!" filled the forest. Nobody was sure if the ponies were alive or dead. All they knew was that they were somewhere in the woods. Panic was rising in the frigid night air. If the ponies weren't found soon, all hope could be lost.


End file.
